Champions League Final Countdown

What path will Saturday’s Final take, the high road of the Beautiful Game or the low road to scandal and cheating? It’s a toss up. And the man with the coin in his pocket, the referee, will need to be on top of his stride, making sure his contact lenses are sparklingly clear. Contact is something Barcelona has faked in their dive to acting glory. When you look like a film star it does not mean you can act like one. No Oscar for Dani Alves, Barca’s talented attacking right-back, the vaudevillian villain of Barcelona’s semi-final against hated rivals Real Madrid. Dani fooled the referee into sending off Madrid’s Pepe after faking contact in a high tackle. (here is the clip being analyzed by a shouting match on Spanish TV). His chicanery swung the game in Barca’s favor. So is diving just part of the game or ruining it? Today I talked with Eric Wynalda, US Soccer Hall of Famer and analyst on the FOX Soccer Channel. I asked him what he thought. He mentioned the Alves ploy. Here’s a snap of what he said, “Diving is something that has become quite embarrassing…it’s a disgrace. My hope as a fan is that UEFA start fining players. It’s not part of the game to try and fool everybody by going off on a stretcher, coming back on and celebrating a goal. That needs to be punished…it undermines the game. Let’s hope this is not the case this weekend, and that they play football.” Amen on that, brother.

More from Eric tomorrow on the contrasting styles of the coaches and whom he sees on United as key to neutralizing the Messi threat.

CAMP NEWS…

United coach Alex Ferguson is dealing with an upset to key player Ryan Giggs who has been outed by the press as playing away from home without the missus knowing. Not that it should come as a shock that a famous soccer player has had an affair but Giggs plays the fiddle on Manchester United, an emotional player with a string of talent, quite sublime. Forever protective of his favorite sons, Fergie responded icily to a question about Giggs at a press conference on Tuesday, marking out the journalist to an aide, banning him from future press briefs later this week. Sir Fergie power!

Barcelona traveled to London a day earlier than scheduled due to the threat of Icelandic volcanic ash covering the British Isles. Whether the lash of cockney charm, nipping off to the boozer for a warm pint after training, or supping up the bangers and mash in the hotel kitchen has any effect on team morale remains to be seen.

TAKE ME HIGHER…

The colorful early seventies blended long hair, loose uniforms and the Amsterdam team called Ajax. Smoke the new soccer drug called Total Football, a revolutionary football-cleaning agent that scrubbed away the rust on soccer’s past. Shining Ajax, led by team captain Johan Cruyff, pursued an aggressive attacking system of switching players into different positions, confusing defenses, terrorizing goalkeepers. Like Amsterdam, Ajax blew people’s minds. Scintillating stuff! Cruyff proceeded to be a legendary player and coach at Barcelona. He laid the seeds for the current Barca high.

Ajax achieved the rare feat of winning the European Cup three times in a row, 1971, ’72, ’73. Much like Spain’s team today being built around a Barca core, Ajax made up the numbers for the outstanding Dutch national team of the 1970’s reaching two World Cup Finals, only to perversely lose, the damned trigger sticking at the crucial moment. Check out some highlights from Ajax’s win over Inter in the 1972 Final, Cruyff bagging the two goals. Look here for more of Cruyff’s great goals and his famous “Cruyff turn.” And for those readers wanting to go deep, read Simon Kuper’s brilliant book Ajax. The Dutch. The War.